Pistons make it three in a row with an easy win against the Nets
The Detroit Pistons take care of the Brooklyn Nets behind double-doubles from both Andre Drummond (23 and 11) and Ersan Ilyasova (19 and 13).
The Pistons had a sluggish start, not scoring on their first five times down the court. But after that, they went on to score on eleven of their next fifteen possessions to take a first quarter lead, and the result never looked in doubt. Reggie Jackson either scored or assisted on nine of those eleven possessions in a very efficient performance by the star point guard.
The Nets fought back from a 10 point deficit at half time to bring it within two with only four minutes remaining in the third but were unable to close out the quarter and the Pistons took a six point lead into the foutth and only extended that advantage.
Each Pistons player that took the court finished with a positive number in regards to the +/- lead by Darrun Hilliard (+16) who received extended minutes due to the late withdrawal of Marcus Morris due to injury.
64. 89. 147. Final. 103
A. Reggie Jackson had a very good all-around performance and finished with 23 Points and 8 Assists with only 2 turnovers. The key to his performance was his efficiency, shooting 10/17 from the field and 2/3 from behind the arc. Jackson was the key to getting the Pistons an early lead and perfectly split his time between looking for his own shot and setting up teammates in better positions. PG. Pistons. REGGIE JACKSON
C+. Caldwell-Pope didn’t shoot the ball well in this one going 2/8 from the field and missed all four three-point attempts. His defense was solid as usual keeping his assignments to sub-par shooting performances. SG. Pistons. KENTAVIOUS CALDWELL-POPE
Pistons. STANLEY JOHNSON. C-. Johnson played a game high 39 minutes with the absence of Marcus Morris. His main defensive assignment was that of Joe Johnson who shot 6/10 for 14 points. On offense it seemed Johnson was trying to do too much and aside from a decent shooting fourth quarter, it could have been much better. He finished with 8 points and missed all five of his three point attempts.. SF
A. What wasn’t there to like about Drummond’s performance– aside from going 1/3 at the line of course. After picking his first foul up after only ninety seconds, it looked like he may face some foul trouble for his second straight game but finished with only two more fouls for the rest of the game. Drummond went 11/15 from the field for 23 Points, 11 Rebounds, 3 Steals and 2 Blocks and surprisingly only two of those points came from dunks. He showed a soft touch on offense and nifty post moves to set him up for layups throughout the game. On the defensive end, Brook Lopez went 8/11 but Drummond did show an ability to cut off some of the passes inside to Lopez which kept him to the 11 attempts, some of which were mid range jump shots.. C. Pistons. ANDRE DRUMMOND
B-. Baynes was his usual solid self. The box score rarely does his game justice. 7 Points and 5 Rebounds in just 15 minutes for the Pistons but was strong inside defensively for the time he was on the court. He did miss some contested lay ups.. C. Pistons. ARON BAYNES
B. A real spark plug off the bench finishing with 10 Points on 3/6 shooting with a couple threes. When the Nets were clawing their way back into the game in the third quarter Tolliver had a HUGE block that lead the Pistons to transition points that took the game from what would have been just a 3 point lead if he didn’t block the shot. Showed a lot of hustle tonight.. PF. Pistons. ANTHONY TOLLIVER
ERSAN ILYASOVA. A. Ilyasova’s shooting ability is really making things happen for not just himself but also making things easier for both Drummond and Jackson. When he is on like he was in this game, the Pistons will be a very difficult match up. He had 5 offensive rebounds in this that generally lead to easy Pistons second chance points.. PF. Pistons
SG. Pistons. DARRUN HILLIARD II. B-. Hilliard played 20 minutes off the bench for the Pistons and showed he has plenty of potential. His box score doesn’t stand out as special but he did shoot the ball well and had a thunderous dunk that should make the highlight reels. He was given a chance and made the most of it.
C-. Jennings missed all three of his attempts–all of which were pretty tough looks. Still, he added 5 assists in just 15 minutes without a single turnover. Things are really starting to turn around for the Pistons’ bench and Jennings is a big reason why.. PG. Pistons. BRANDON JENNINGS
Van Gundy just needed to make sure his team came ready to play–something that they’ve had a hard time doing against weaker opponents. I did like that he immediately subbed Drummond out for Baynes midway through the fourth quarter. It frustrates me when teams go the Hack-A-Dre route and Stan can sometimes leave him out there too long so all credit to the coach in this case.. Head Coach. Pistons. STAN VAN GUNDY. B